On the Road
by marshtomp madness
Summary: Canute's nightmares about his past affect him--but mostly Thorfinn--during the daytime, too. Rated for a little language.


I reread my last fic about these two, and it was like, _where did that even come from in my brain? _Thorfinn was _scary_. I'm... actually not crazy, promise. But, I mean, there's got to be fluffy stuff in my head too. So, I dug around, and found it!

I think that... this is an AU, where certain people don't die quite so quickly and certain fledglings don't get pushed out of their nests for a bit.

From personal experience, it is very hard to be irritated with people who fall asleep on your shoulder. D: Even if they snore.

* * *

Thorfinn, having had the late watch the prior night, knew that the prince had been unable to sleep, and had seen him sitting up, occasionally standing up to pace. He didn't know what had kept the prince awake, but he knew that Canute would be tired, and he knew that Canute would probably fall asleep today.

That didn't make the weight of Canute's head on his shoulder any less startling, though. It took him a moment to figure it out.

Seriously, how did someone sleep on this bumpy wagon anyway?

He tried the least obtrusive approach, figuring Askeladd would be pissed if he made the prince angry.

"Oy," he said, nudging Canute on the shoulder a little bit, as much as he could without really startling him. Except, what was the point of this, if not to startle him? ..._Whatever_. "Hey! Sleep at night, not on me, yeah?"

Ragnar smiled a little across the way, and Thorfinn raised an eyebrow at him. Ragnar's smile disappeared, and he raised his own eyebrows at Thorfinn.

Thorfinn scowled, and nudged the prince a little harder.

Canute mumbled something incomprehensible. Sensing that Canute was close to consciousness, Thorfinn tried to talk to him again. "Just wake up, you stupid--_pffft!_"

Thorfinn had turned his head while saying this in time for the wind to blow up a large chunk of (very soft) blonde hair into his face. He spat it out, disgusted. Urgh. This was _gross_. Canute didn't even move.

Thorfinn tried moving his shoulder a little. Canute's head fell backwards a little, but he still didn't wake up. However, Thorfinn was afforded a very odd view of the top of Canute's head, which, when covered with his long blonde hair, made him look very much like a pretty girl. It didn't help. Frankly, Thorfinn was more than a little uncomfortable in a lot of ways.

"He gets nightmares," explained Ragnar. "He often sleeps during the day, though that doesn't stop the nightmares."

Thorfinn sighed.

Nightmares he could understand. Nightmares he could even maybe sympathize with, if he thought the prince was worth it. It wasn't like Thorfinn's dreams were ever peaceful. But...

"What does a prince have nightmares about?"

Ragnar shrugged, and Thorfinn suddenly remembered what he had said a few days before about Canute's life in the palace.

The subject dropped. Thorfinn decided it wasn't worth the effort to wake the boy.

He did threaten Ragnar with death if Ragnar ever decided to tell anyone how the prince had sighed and clutched his arm. Especially if Ragnar mentioned the part where Thorfinn had let the prince do that.

Or if Ragnar mentioned the part how Canute's hair got in Thorfinn's mouth again when he threatened Ragnar with death. It made his threats all sputter-y and completely ineffective.

Thorfinn kept his mouth shut the entire rest of the way, and tried not to get up to kill Askeladd when he began to tease Thorfinn.

* * *

"I-I-I am _so _sorry," said Canute, whose face was bright red. It made him look more like a girl. Specifically one who had been walked in on while they were bathing, or something.

Thorfinn shrugged, and didn't meet Canute's searching eyes.

"Let's not talk about it."

"I, um, I didn't mean to. I m-mean, I really, really d-didn't mean to."

"I _said_, I don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sorry," said Canute. "Did I, uh, do anything? Say anything? I have been known to snore in my sleep--I am very sorry if it disturbed you--"

"You didn't do a damn thing, all right? Can we just stop talking about it yet?"

"Y-you seem very disturbed," said Canute. "I just--I just want to know if I did anything to disturb you, and--"

The next words came out of Thorfinn's mouth much faster than he intended, if he had intended them to come out at all.

"Iateyourstupidhair."

"P-p-pardon me?"

"It was an accident! Your stupid long hair got into my mouth the whole way."

Canute's posture stiffened, and he was no longer apologetic--or even anything that he had been before. His mouth twisted in a grimace.

"My hair... was in y-your mouth?"

Thorfinn nodded.

"Disgusting," said Canute. "I may have to bathe twice this week."

"Yeah, like it was some kind of a freaking picnic for me. I rinsed my mouth out five times after we got out of the wagon."

Canute lifted up a strand of his hair, to examine it, as if he could tell exactly which strands had managed to worm their way into Thorfinn's mouth. He inspected it for a long moment, and then flicked it away, as though it were a speck of dust mussing up his uniform.

"I think," said Thorfinn, "that you should never mention this again, princess. Is that clear?"

"Please," said Canute, still with that sudden haughtiness that had sprung itself upon him. Unlike before, when Thorfinn had pissed him off, this wasn't a blushing, defensive haughtiness. It was the real thing. Thorfinn was almost proud. Maybe someday, the prince'd be deserving of the leadership position. "And don't call me princess, knave. I will be your king."

"Hasn't happened yet," said Thorfinn. "I'll call you whatever I damn well please until then." Please. Thorfinn had his own pride to consider.

Canute sniffed.

"A true shame, that a man such as Thors the Troll sired such an impertinent scoundrel as you."

"I won't hear any words about my father without repercussions," snarled Thorfinn, resting his hand on the handle of his knives.

Canute did flinch, but it was a small victory. "I'll not hear another disrespect about _myself _without repercussions."

Now, their eyes really did meet. Thorfinn raised an eyebrow, still scowling, and Canute, being taller, raised an eyebrow of his own and looked down at Thorfinn. A long moment passed, and neither of them knew where to go from there. Because Thorfinn, despite his irritation, didn't _really _want to hurt Canute, or even badly scare him. He didn't know how Canute felt--though he imagined it was something along the lines of not even knowing how to go about scaring someone else. Thorfinn watched as slowly, Canute's expression changed to something less aggressive and less sure, and to his own horror, Thorfinn felt his going, too.

"Fine," said Thorfinn, ending it before Canute could.

"Fine," said Canute.

Except that meant Canute got the last word. _Damn_. Thorfinn turned on his heel and stomped off, preferably to find something that would make an edible dinner and _kill it_.

And when Canute's head started to droop on the wagon ride the next day, and he finally succumbed to exhaustion, Thorfinn pushed his head off to the side so he wasn't on his shoulder again--and if it was a little gentler than maybe he had intended, and Canute didn't completely stop leaning on him, well, at least the damn princess didn't fall over, or wake up.

And, to make things easier for all concerned, Ragnar didn't so much as make a peep.

* * *

AN:

Oh, Thorfinn, so cute when he thinks he's well adjusted. I really like these two as they are before it all hits the fan. I kind of hoped Thorfinn would bring Canute out by merely being obnoxious... but that would be too easy for the shippers, wouldn't it? It's better the way it is, really. This way we just get to write all the fun.


End file.
